Regime forces and militias failed to achieve any progress toward the village of al-Kabaneh and its hills in the northern Lattakia countryside despite heavy fire on the area by warplanes and “Golan” and “Fil” surface-to-surface missiles.
Military sources from the Latakia countryside told Alsouria Net on Tuesday, that regime forces had made five attempts to storm Kabaneh in the early hours, but the opposition repelled them all without any change on the fronts.
According to the sources, the regime attempts to storm Kabaneh are not new, but have been repeated over the last two months, as there are a number of groups operating on the fronts, primarily al-Hizb al-Turkestani and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, along with fighters from the National Front for Liberation on some fronts.
The Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s news agency Abaa said on Tuesday that its fighters had repelled regime attempts to advance and that they had killed and wounded members of the attacking forces.
The heights of Kabaneh provide fire cover over most of the vital roads for the opposition forces in the Sahel al-Ghab area and the city of Jisr al-Shaghour.
If Assad’s forces make a full advance to Kabaneh, the opposition will lose large parts of the western Idleb countryside up to the western Hama countryside, as well as their remaining areas in the northern Lattakia countryside.
The military sources told Alsouria Net that the rebel groups were using a variety of methods to confront regime bombardments and their attempts to advance, including trenches and ditches which they have worked to build in recent years, as well as their fighters knowing the area geographically.
The National Front for Liberation announced that it was striking the Russian base in the Hayaleen area in the Hama countryside with heavy artillery and rockets.
It said that it had damaged ammunition stores in the village of al-Qasabiyeh in the southern Idleb countryside, which caused them to explode.
What distinguishes the current fighting in the northern Hama countryside is that it is occurring in regime-controlled areas, unlike in recent days, during which fighting occurred in opposition-controlled areas such as Kafr Naboudeh and Qasabiyeh in the southern Idleb countryside.
Currently, the various groups fighting the regime forces in the Hama and Idleb countrysides are trying to regain the towns and villages in the northwestern Hama countryside, which they lost after a heavy military campaign by Assad’s forces a month ago with Russian air and logistical support.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
